“My brother has [worn it] when he was in Kindergarten and when he was 13,” Black said. She went on to claim there is nothing wrong with the costume or with the White Supremacist group, which she says still exists in their Virginia town. “It’s supposed to be white with white, black with black, man with woman and all of that. That’s what the KKK stands for.”

Some users were angry that the town was being criticized for the act of one individual, but others criticized these people for missing the larger point.

“The fact of the matter is that this event could have happened anywhere in the US and you all being more outraged that your town has a bad name than the actual issue at hand is extremely disappointing,” wrote one woman. “A few of you have missed the point completely. Just because we are in a new century does not mean that racism is a thing of the past. Racism is alive and well and if you opened your eyes, you’d see it clearly.”

A petition on Change.org boasting 75,000 signatures calls on Duval County School District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti to rename the school, at which more than half of the students are African-American.

“I’m shocked and outraged that in this day and age, any student would be forced to attend a school named for Nathan Bedford Forrest. I urge you to immediately change the school’s name,” Jacksonville resident Omotayo Richmond wrote in the petition.

But the school board does not respond to petitions, spokeswoman Marsha Oliver told the Daily News Friday.

“We have a school board policy and processes that we follow,” Oliver said. “The petition is not the starting point for that process.”

Rather, the board’s advisory council must inititate a name change, she said.

A Fairview man is suing a Portland door maker, contending he was forced to quit after finding a noose hanging at work and being referred to as a slave by a co-worker.

Tyree Jackson, who is African American, has accused Pacific Architectural Wood Products Inc. of violating his civil rights in a lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Portland. He also said the company retaliated against him after he complained to Oregon’sBureau of Labor and Industries.

It’s at least the third allegation involving a noose at a Portland-area workplace since 2011, records show.

Jackson twice complained to BOLI about discrimination at Pacific Architectural Wood Products, once in August 2011 and again in December. In the latter instance, he said, supervisors assigned him to menial work after learning he lodged a complaint. He was then transferred to a different manager who told him to hold a nail gun “like a white guy,” according to the complaint.

He withdrew both complaints before the state completed the inquiries, spokesman Bob Estabrook said.

In the federal suit, Jackson alleges that co-workers hung crosses and talked about the Ku Klux Klan. He was eventually assigned to work for the supervisor who hung the noose, he said. He quit in December 2011, according to the complaint.

Pacific Architectural Wood Products did not return repeated calls seeking comment. Jordan Ramis attorney Robert Blackmore said he could not speak about the allegations against the company. The Lake Oswego-based law firm is listed as the company’s registered agent in Oregon corporation records.

Jackson declined to comment until speaking with his attorney, Kerry Smith. He is seeking lost wages and attorney fees as well as damages or reinstatement to his former job. He also asks for assurance that he or any other worker isn’t subjected to future discrimination.

It’s unclear whether the case will be delayed because the summons was issued to an Oregon lawyer who represented Pacific Architectural in the past but died two years ago.

The case was dismissed from Multnomah County Circuit Court in September after the state countered it should be tried in Clackamas County instead. It has yet to be re-filed.

In March 2011, the attorney general’s office announced it had reached a settlement with Tualatin’s Valmont Industries Inc. and Barrett Business Services Inc. The Portland staffing company placed a worker at Valmont, where he said harassment eventually escalated to a noose hanging above his workstation. The companies agreed to pay damages and to complete BOLI anti-discrimination training. Valmont also offered the man a full-time position.